A dispute at a tea-arts house escalated into one of the most terrifying shooting-and-kidnapping crime sprees in the history of Taiwanese public safety, ultimately broken by the police's dogged persistence, with all hostages rescued and the culprits captured.

• In 2004, two groups whose negotiations broke down at the Gengduyuan tea house in Taichung drew guns and opened fire on the spot, leaving three dead and two seriously wounded; the principal suspect, Lin Ming-hua, and three others went on the run after the crime.
• To raise funds for their escape, the group turned into kidnappers, first abducting Cheng Ming-kun, the deputy chairman of Zhenlan Temple, and reportedly extorting NT$30 million before releasing him.
• They then kidnapped a wealthy Chiayi businessman surnamed Tsai and demanded a ransom of NT$300 million, deliberately making phone calls in the south to mislead the police while secretly hiding the hostage in Sanzhi, Taipei.
• When Lin Ming-hua tried to smuggle himself across the strait to collect the ransom at Badouzi in Keelung, he was arrested by police lying in wait, but he pretended to chew betel nut and swallowed a pre-hidden dose of potassium cyanide, leaving him in critical condition.
• The fearless officer Lin Yuan-cheng, nicknamed "Bai Meng," laid down his weapons and entered the building alone to negotiate; using the emotional appeals of the suspects' girlfriend and a fellow townsman, he drove Li Chia-hsuan and Huang Po-ting to break down, throw down their weapons and surrender, and release the hostage.

Aftermath: This major criminal case, pursued for more than a year, was thus cracked, the criminal group completely dismantled, and the hostages rescued unharmed.